Well I never knew my mother
But I can't say that that's so bad.
She was still a girl of seventeen
The night she met my dad.
He was just six months out of chino
Trying his hardest to stay clean.
When they'd sing, and they'd sing, and they'd sing
Like doves sleepin with broken wings
With a bed fit for a king
"It didn't mean a thing"

It was a shotgun forest wedding
They forgot to bring the guns.
They were too busy counting promises
To children not yet born.
No one could afford the ride
They just hitched up the 101
And they'd sing, and they'd sing, and they'd sing
Like doves dancin with broken wings
With a view fit for a king
"I should have been sleeping in the sun"

And there was a loneliness, they would confess

Like the world had just gone bad I guess.
And they'd hold hands looking into the eyes of god.
And they'd say tell me why you hide from us
Why you filled us with such wickedness
Why you spared us from your grace
But not the rod.

Now my dad said *** the details
You just keep your head down, hide
You gotta find yourself alone before you find the eyes of God
You may be broken scared and mattered
Tear at the flesh of your my hearts strings
You were born to be a peasant not a king
So just stop acting like you were running from something
Ya gonna leave the way ya came without a thing
With your heart tied to your mind tied to a string
And they'd just sing, and they'd sing, and they'd sing
"It doesn't mean a thing"